As always, Roy McMillan is brilliant in his reading. The eventual outcome have you tingling with surprise! I thoroughly enjoyed this delightfully different novel.

To my mind, the plot was very well paced, never losing its sense of direction or momentum, and typifies Harris's prowess as an outstanding author. So many twists and turns occur, that I found myself longing for the next round of voting in order to see how things would transpire. The leading character, Lomelli, is superbly developed, along with a good many others too, providing a depth to the story line which more than compensates for the constraints of writing about a repetitive process of voting sessions. I have to admit to being somewhat awestruck by the sense of being there with the cardinals, in the thick of it. I was gripped from the word go! There is a powerful sense of being able to secretly enter a world, which is otherwise totally impenetrable to most of mankind, and to observe the unobservable. The subject of this novel, the election of a new pope, did not immediately appeal to my interests, however, as someone who has always enjoyed Robert Harris's works, I felt that it was likely to overcome my reservations. The narrator is excellent and injects life into the narrative. There are a lot of unfamiliar names, some rather similar sounding, in the story and I sometimes got confused over who was whom, but eventually the main players emerge and their conflicts and loyalties more compelling to listen to. I found the descriptions in Conclave of the archaic rituals and superstitious beliefs interesting but amazed that they have survived into the 21st Century. I’ve enjoyed many of the books by this author and think that the series on the life of Cicero more satisfying and The Officer and a Spy more exciting than Conclave. The ending is a surprise but there’s a clue early on as to what it might be. I will not spoil the story by mentioning revelations and events that propel the narrative to gather pace and become more gripping. Gradually the story becomes more interesting as the different factions become polarised and the less than saintly behaviour of some cardinals revealed. The description of the first few voting sessions repeats much of the procedure but at the same time reveals things about the various main players. It takes a while for the narrative to get going as numerous characters are introduced (there are 118 cardinals in the conclave!) and the rules governing the election of a new Pope elaborated. Slow at first but then surprisingly compelling

Conclave by Robert Harris